“.....there are some basic steps you can take to look into a doctor’s credentials and record. “

by
JONATHAN M. METSCH, DR.P.H., LLCHudson Reporter

Jul 01, 2014 | 683 views | 0 | 3 | |

In my experience the best way to find top doctors is to find out who other doctors got to, and send their families and friend to, as patients. Another plus from my point of view is if they actively teach medical students, and interns and residents (and have a medical school faculty appointment).But a recent Washington Post article http://www.washingtonpost.com * stated “Unfortunately, there’s no foolproof way to vet your doctor... But there are some basic steps you can take to look into a doctor’s credentials and record. The post article makes some suggestions:“Start at your state’s medical board. Most state medical boards’ Web sites allow you to search for individual physician licenses.”

“It’s not easy for doctors to run away from disciplinary measures. “Under federal law, suspended licenses must be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank....Although patients can’t access the national database, they can look up information about physicians on sites such as Healthgrades.com, a for-profit venture that’s free for patients. The site provides doctor reviews collected from patients as well as information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state medical boards.....”“If you’re concerned that your doctor may be unduly influenced by pharmaceutical companies, you can use the “Dollars for Doctors” page maintained by the ProPublica journalism project to find out if he or she has received drug company money and, if so, how much. You can also see how doctors’ prescribing habits compare with their peers’ at ProPublica’s Prescriber Checkup page, projects.propublica.org/checkup. The site shows how often a physician prescribes drugs that present special risks compared with the average doctor, as well as rates of name-brand drug prescriptions and the average number and cost of prescriptions their patients are given * to read the full Washington Post article “How to find out if your doctor is in good standing. It takes some digging.” By Christie Aschwanden, highlight then click on open hyperlink http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-to-find-out-if-your-doctor-is-in-good-standing-it-takes-some-digging/2014/02/24/12c31766-9915-11e3-80ac-63a8ba7f7942_story.html?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+First+Edition&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=12037304&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_aSLQcQOVMVMlQPjEIo4GRMbJZCgZSlN5y1fhMkmfeIaJA5SumLI9TbGjZVYvA5f3xJKnMqmK4CfQscOK_qcHbDqp_mkrTrVPN9yzk9YT9YpTF_Yo&_hsmi=12037304/\